POSTDOCTORAL POSITION IN BEE HEALTH AND ECOLOGY, University of Massachusetts Amherst
The Adler Lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass, Amherst) seeks a Postdoctoral Research Associate to assess how floral, bee and network characteristics mediate bee disease transmission dynamics under the guidance and supervision of the Principle Investigator. This research is part of a larger NIH grant examining trait-mediated bee disease transmission, with collaborators at Cornell, NCSU, and UC Riverside. The appointee is expected to establish some independence in research design and execution, to publish her/his work as appropriate in collaboration with the principle investigator, and to be an engaged member of the lab. There is an opportunity to mentor undergraduates in related independent research, but this is not a position requirement.

This is a benefited, full-time Postdoctoral Research Associate position. Initial appointment is for one year; reappointment beyond the first year is contingent upon availability of funding and job performance. Funding is available for at least two years. Primary responsibilities will include, but are not limited to, selecting and preparing plant, bee and pathogen species for manipulative experiments and conducting research in field tents asking how network characteristics and floral and bee traits affect bee disease transmission. Research will require close contact with bees in tents and in field settings, and training lab personnel in various experimental techniques.

The successful candidate is required to have a Ph.D. in biology, entomology, ecology or related field by the time of hire. Highly desirable qualifications include experience conducting research in plant-pollinator interactions; experience with pollination networks, experience working with multiple bee, plant and pathogen species in field and/or lab settings, demonstrated record of publishing research in quality journals, expertise in R and statistical analysis, experience and/or strong interest in plant-insect interactions, and experience and/or interest in mentoring undergraduate research. Inquiries about the position can be directed to Lynn Adler, lsadler@bio.umass.edu.

Postdoctoral Research Associates at the University of Massachusetts are unionized and receive standard salary and benefits, depending on experience. Salary is subject to bargaining unit contract, with a salary minima of $47,476.

Candidates must apply online by submitting a cover letter, CV, summary of research interests, and the contact details of three references willing to provide letters of recommendation to:

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer of women, minorities, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities and encourages applications from these and other protected group members.

Biology professor Margaret Riley, an expert in the evolution of microbial resistance, is one of five new members of the board of directors of the Boston-based Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA). The appointments were announced in June.

Riley says, “I am honored to be invited to serve on the board of directors for APUA, which was one of the very first organizations devoted to informing the public of the dangers of antibiotic overuse and abuse and has been a key player in efforts to extend the lifespan of these life-saving drugs.”

An unspoken frustration for evolutionary biologists over the past 100 years, says Craig Albertson at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is that genetics can only account for a small percentage of variation in the physical traits of organisms. Now he reports experimental results on how another factor, a “bizarre behavior” that is part of early cichlid fish larvae’s developmental environment, influences later variation in their craniofacial bones.

Albertson has studied African cichlid fish for 20 years as a model system for exploring how biodiversity originates and is maintained, with a focus on genetic contributions to species differences. In a new series of experiments with former Ph.D. student Yinan Hu, now a postdoctoral fellow at Boston College, they examined a “vigorous gaping” behavior in larval fish that starts immediately after the cartilaginous lower jaw forms and before bone deposition begins. Results appear in the current early online issue of Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

As Albertson explains, “We predicted that the baby fish are exercising their jaw muscles, which should impose forces on the bones they attach to, forces that might stimulate bone formation.” Albertson and Hu observed that gaping frequency, which could reach as high as 200 per minute, varied by species “in a way that foreshadows differences in bone deposition around processes critical for the action of jaw opening.”

Migrating birds complete long non-stop flights of many hours for songbirds and days for some shorebirds to reach breeding or wintering grounds. During such flights a bird's metabolic rate is very high, fueled by stored fat, but also by burning the protein in muscles and organs in a process that is not well understood, says eco-physiologist Alexander Gerson at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Now he has received a three-year, $756,000 National Science Foundation grant to thoroughly investigate the consequences and mechanisms of this phenomenon, which sometimes leads to dramatic reductions in migrating birds' muscle mass and organs but may not result in significant loss of function.

His research team will also look at water-loss rates in non-flight conditions, at rest, and look for differences among migrants and non-migrants. Further, Gerson and colleagues will conduct metabolic phenotyping and use transcriptomics to explore molecular mechanisms of protein breakdown and regeneration with UMass Amherst molecular biologists Courtney Babbitt and Larry Schwartz.

A biologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is hoping to unlock the genetic secrets of flowering plants — information that could be used to grow better crops. The researcher, Madelaine Bartlett, will study the development and evolution of grass flowers such as corn and wheat.

Bartlett said the goal of the project is to understand how the genetics of grass flowers influence their growth. “As the climate changes, we can develop more and better crops that can survive in places they wouldn’t have been able to survive before,” she said.